She Will Be Loved
by platinumblind
Summary: An AU take on what happened after the S10 episode, 'A New Position For Roz'. Are Roz and Frasier really as happy without each other as they claim to be?
1. Just Hang Up

**Title: **She Will Be Loved

**Fandom: **Frasier

**Synopsis: **Roz, feeling hurt and betrayed at Frasier's decision to choose Julia over her, finally decides to move on and start her new job at KPXY. Frasier carries on with his life and his new relationship. Both insist they are now truly happy. But are they really as happy without each other as they claim to be?

**Author Note: **This is an AU version of what happened after the final episode of Season 10, _A New Position For Roz_.

**Dedications: **Anybody who's reviewed my other Frasier fic requesting that Frasier and Roz should get together. It's partly you guys that helped put this fic idea into my head!

**Chapter One**

**Just Hang Up**

_"You're going to have to choose, Frasier."_

_"You will not put me in this position, Roz! We will discuss it later!"_

_"NO! Tell me! It's her or me! Tell me now, or I swear to God I will walk out of here and I will NOT come back!"_

The sound of her cell phone ringing startled Roz out of her thoughts. Sitting up and shifting around in her office desk chair, she let out a loud sigh before picking the cell phone up from her desk and looking at the name on the front of it.

Tears very nearly sprung to her eyes when she saw the name.

It had been the fifth time that day that he had called her, and she hadn't bothered to pick up any of those times. A week had passed since their argument, but she didn't feel any better about the situation. She didn't want to talk to him. She couldn't. She knew she wouldn't be able to even say 'Hello' without bursting into tears.

Although... maybe he'd called to tell her to come back? To say that he didn't mean what he'd done? To say that he'd left Julia?

She almost snorted with laughter at that. _Yeah right_, she thought, _I wish_.

Still, the sound of her phone's ringtone was starting to annoy her.

And she knew she couldn't avoid him forever...

"What do you want?" she said in an angry and cold voice into the phone, as she flipped up the phone cover and put it to her ear.

"Roz..."

She could've sworn she very nearly melted at the sound of his voice. She felt like she hadn't heard it for a lifetime.

But she had to keep her guard up, she knew that. She would not let him hurt her again. She would _not._

"_What do you want_, Frasier?"

"I think we need to talk."

She rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Roz, are you really willing to give up 10 years of friendship over something like this?"

Her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What do you mean, over _this_? This just so happens to be you choosing some bitch over me!" She got up out of her chair, beginning to pace up and down the room as she carried on talking. "I thought we were friends, Frasier. I thought you cared. But you know what? I didn't realise you were so desperate for a date that you were willing to blow your friends off for her."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. Roz raised her eyebrows, waiting for a response, wondering what excuse Frasier was trying to conjure up.

She heard him sigh loudly. "You're being irrational, Roz. I can't talk to you when you're acting like this."

"Of course you can't," she said sarcastically, suddenly feeling angry again. "Fine, if that's what you want, Frasier."

"Roz, I -"

"Just hang up, Frasier. Just go back to Julia, and carry on hurting the people who truly care about you. Go on. It's what you're best at, remember?"

A part of her hoped that he would plead with her some more. Deep down inside, she wanted him to say that he missed her. That he would do anything to get her back.

Instead, she was met with the sound of a dial tone.

He'd done what she said. He hung up.

She slammed down the cover of her phone, and stormed back to her chair, sitting down in it with such a force that the chair bounced up and down slightly and made a squeaking sound.

Putting her phone back down on her desk, she then picked up a pen, looking down at the paperwork set out in front of her.

_I can do this_, she thought to herself. _If he doesn't want to talk to me, fine. His loss. I don't need him_.

She looked at the words on the paperwork, but although she read them over and over again, trying her hardest to make sense of them, they weren't quite registering in her mind. Her hand started to tremble. She closed her eyes, but it didn't do much to help the tears that were forming in them.

She dropped the pen, and covering her face with her hands, she began to sob loudly.

_I can't do this..._


	2. Coming To Realisations

**Author Note: **You may recognise a tiny bit of the dialogue in this chapter. And if you don't, you probably should. I borrowed a line or two from the first episode of S11, _No Sex Please, We're Skittish._

**Chapter Two**

**Coming To Realisations**

When Frasier stepped into Café Nervosa the next day, he expected to have to be drinking his usual afternoon coffee alone; Niles had told him that he was to be spending the day out with Daphne. So he was surprised when he looked at the table in the far corner and saw his younger brother sat at it, sipping on his half-caf latte in silence.

He made his way over to the table. "Hello Niles, I didn't expect to see you here today," he said, managing a small smile as Niles looked up at him.

Niles gently put his half-full coffee cup back down onto it's saucer and smiled back at his older brother.

"Hey Frasier," he said cheerfully, "Ah, yes, Daphne decided to spend the day with her mother instead."

Frasier nodded knowingly, and grinned. "Mind if I join you?"

"No, sit down," Niles replied, and he looked over at the counter, raising his hand slightly to get the waiter's attention. The waiter nodded and came over to their table, notepad in hand. "What can I get you?"

Niles pointed to Frasier, and the waiter looked in his direction.

"A non-fat latte, please," he said casually, and the waiter notes it down on his pad before walking off.

Frasier turned his attention back to Niles, a solemn expression on his face. "I spoke to Roz last night."

Niles' eyes widened, and he stared at Frasier in absolute disbelief. "You did? What did you say?"

"I couldn't get too many words in. She kept going on about how I'm pushing away everybody I care about so I can be with Julia. And then..." Frasier sighed, not able to finish his sentence.

Niles shot his brother a sympathetic look. "Let me guess, she hung up on you?"

Frasier looked down at the ground for a second, shifting in his seat a little. "Actually..." he began, and then he looked back up, "...I hung up on her."

Niles was suddenly confused. "Why?"

The conversation stopped for a moment as the waiter came over and put Frasier's coffee down on their table. "There you go Sir, your non-fat latte," he said, before walking off again. Frasier watched the waiter, making sure he was out of earshot before responding to his brother's one-word question.

"I don't know. I didn't know what else to do... I couldn't think of anything to say that would have possibly helped the situation in any way."

Niles nodded slightly, picking up his coffee cup to take another sip before speaking again. "Well... is it possible that maybe you were just trying to avoid saying what you really wanted to say?"

Frasier frowned, not liking what his brother seemed to be implying. "What are you trying to say, Niles?"

"I think you're just avoiding having to tell her that you miss her." Niles smirked, a confident smirk that meant he was sure he was right.

"Niles, that's crazy!"

"Well, _do _you miss her?"

"Of course I miss her, she's been my producer for nearly ten years, and more importantly, she's also been my friend. But I like Julia. Don't I deserve to see if me and Julia could have a future together?"

Niles raised his hand in defense. "I know, I know, you're right, you do deserve that. But clearly you hurt her by giving her the cold shoulder like you did. She must have been really hurt, because she took that new job, didn't she? She's obviously trying to get away from you because she feels betrayed by who she considered to be her closest friend. That's how I see all this."

"Well, I think you're wrong, Niles. I can clearly see what the problem is. She's in love with me, and she just doesn't want to see me with anybody else."

Niles cocked an eyebrow, looking slightly unconvinced by what Frasier had just said. "I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion, Frasier."

"That's because you don't know all the facts, Niles. I never told you this before, but..." Frasier leaned forward, his voice lowering to a whisper. "...two years ago, Roz and I slept together."

Niles' eyes opened so wide that Frasier was sure that his eyeballs were going to pop out and fall onto the coffee table. "Woah, you what?!" he exclaimed, "When exactly did this happen?!"

"That doesn't matter. Look, it's obvious now what happened. After our night together, I must have kindled some kind of spark in her. That lit the torch she carries to this day."

"Well... what about you?"

Frasier didn't quite understand the question. "What _about _me?"

"You say you believe she's in love with you. Is it possible that the feeling could be mutual?"

Frasier sat up quickly, and laughed incredulously. "Niles, that's ridiculous."

As if on cue, Niles' phone began to ring. "Excuse me," he said to Frasier, before taking the phone out of his pocket, flipping it open and placing it to his ear. "Hello?... oh, hey Daphne... sure, that's fine... okay, see you soon... love you too." Niles flipped the phone top back down and put it back in his pocket. "I'm sorry Frasier, but I have to go. Daphne just got home and she needs to see me."

Frasier nodded. "That's fine. I'll see you later, then."

"Yes, of course." Niles stood up from his seat, reached into his jacket pocket once more to get out his wallet, and dropped a $10 onto the table next to his coffee cup. Placing his wallet back into his pocket, he turned his attention back to Frasier. "And remember what I said. It makes sense, you know." Before Frasier could respond, Niles was gone.

Frasier picked up a spoon that was on the table, and put it into his coffee cup, stirring it round and round just for the hell of it. He let out a long, loud sigh as he began to mull over his younger brother's words. Was it possible that Niles could be right?

It wasn't that he didn't find Roz attractive, or fun to be around. She certainly was a beautiful woman. And whenever they were together, they always had tons of fun. That's what made them such close friends. But was it more than friendship? Was it possible that somewhere in the past two years, since their night together, that their friendship had become something more? Not just to Roz, but to himself also?

Was that why none of his relationships with other women seemed to work? Because deep down inside, subconsciously, he knew that the right woman for him had been staring him in the face all this time?

There were so many questions racing around in Frasier's mind that he was beginning to get a headache. He moved his hand up to rub the side of his head slightly. Shutting his eyes, he tried for a moment to clear his mind, to calm himself. But he couldn't.

This was a difficult situation to be in, he knew that. He needed to decide what he wanted to do to try to fix it.

_I could try calling Roz again, but she probably daren't answer anymore, not after I hung up on her last night._

_So what do I do?_

_Well... I could try the direct approach. Maybe talking to her face to face would be the best way to solve our conflict._

_I think it's time to pay a visit to KPXY..._


	3. Heart To Heart

**Chapter Three**

**Heart To Heart**

The wind was blowing with such a force outside that Roz could hear it in her office, even with the windows shut and locked. But it didn't seem to phase her at all. She was stood at the file cabinet in the corner of the room, flicking through some folders, looking for some important paperwork she needed for a meeting in an hours' time.

She hadn't had anymore phone calls - not from Frasier, anyway - and for that she was extremely relieved. After their short yet difficult conversation just two days before, Roz was adamant that now she would be more focused on trying to move on with her life. No more dwelling on what had happened, no more 'what-ifs', no more wondering what could have been.

Of course, that was easier said than done.

Slightly annoyed at not being able to find her important paperwork, her hunt came to an abrupt hiatus when the phone on her desk began to ring. Slamming shut the file cabinet, she made her way over to her desk, pressing the speakerphone button on the phone. "Yeah?"

"Miss Doyle, you have someone here to see you." It was Mary, the receptionist.

Roz was now sat at her desk, thumbing through a huge stack of papers. "If it's Mr. Wiswell, tell him I'm still looking for those figures."

"No, I believe it's your old boss?"

Roz's eyes widened at that. _Please tell me she means Kenny, please... don't let it be -_

"He says his name is Dr. Frasier Crane."

_Damn it. _"Um, tell him I'm too busy to see anyone right now." Now she was on the floor, rummaging through the desk drawers, chucking about various pieces of paper and stationery in a desperate attempt to find what she was looking for. Not able to find it, she let out an angry yell, and slammed the drawers shut. "Just tell him I'm in a meeting or something!"

"Gee, Roz, you don't look like you're in a meeting."

Roz froze, recognising the voice. Slowly she got up from the floor, afraid of who she was sure she was about to see in front of her.

Sure enough, she was right. Stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the door frame was Frasier himself.

Leaning across her desk, she quickly pressed the button on the phone to cut off her conversation with Mary. When she looked up again, she had an angry expression on her face.

"What in the hell are you doing here?"

Frasier stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Don't you think it's time we had a talk?" He was slightly surprised at how calmly his words came out. He was feeling extremely nervous at having to see Roz; after the way she'd ranted at him on the phone, he was sure she'd bite his head off when they spoke in person.

Roz shot Frasier an evil look; it was so bad that the phrase 'if looks could kill' suddenly popped into Frasier's mind.

"No, I don't," she said bluntly, before making her way back over to the file cabinet. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy."

Frasier just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground. He felt rather awkward, not quite sure what to say or do.

"You know... it's not healthy to keep avoiding confrontation like this."

Roz stopped in her tracks, glancing back slightly but not turning all the way around to face Frasier. She sighed, shaking her head, not quite able to believe what she'd just heard. "Gee, that's something coming from a guy who thinks hanging up the phone is the best way to deal with things."

Suddenly Frasier was annoyed. "Oh, for god's sake, Roz! What else was I supposed to do? It's not like you were exactly being fair with all of this."

Roz spun around on her heel, finally deciding it was time to face Frasier. "Fair?!" she yelled angrily, "You think that being shoved out on your ass by your best friend because he cares about some girl more than you is **fair**?!"

"I did no such thing, Roz! You put me in a difficult position. Did you really think I was going to just give up the best relationship I've been in for a long time, just for you?"

"YES!" Roz's voice boomed even louder. "Because we're friends! That's what friends do! And besides, she's all wrong for you!"

"Well, who would you rather I be with? You?"

Roz was taken aback by Frasier's rather blunt accusation. "That... that's ridiculous."

Frasier raised an eyebrow. "Did you do all this because we're friends? Or because you want something more from me?"

Roz, suddenly angry, stepped forward so she was right in Frasier's face. "You shut the hell up! Why don't you just go back to Julia and leave me the hell alone!"

They stood there in silence, simply glaring at each other for a few moments. Roz stared at Frasier coldly, determined to let him see just how angry she was.

But as Frasier stared back, he could see that her anger was just a facade. He could see the true hurt in her eyes.

And then he felt guilty. Guilty for realising that he was the one who had made her feel the hurt she was obviously feeling.

He needed to make it up to her... somehow...

"I'm sorry..." he breathed, closing his eyes.

Roz's eyebrows raised in surprise, and suddenly all the anger seemed to drain from her. And when Frasier re-opened his eyes and looked at Roz, he saw a tear sliding down her cheek. He moved his hand up to her face, using his thumb to gently wipe the tear away.

"Are you, really?" she asked, "Are you sorry?"

"Of course I am, Roz," he said softly, "I'm sorry that I hurt you. You deserved better than to be treated so cruelly. You mean more to me than anyone, you know that."

They locked eyes, and for a second they both looked at each other again. This time not with hate, but with love.

It had gone silent again in the room, the only noise being the rain hammering down gently on the windows outside. Frasier moved his face in closer to Roz's. Roz drew a shaky breath; she had a feeling she knew what was coming next.

But as Frasier moved in closer again, his lips about to meet hers, he stopped. An image of Julia suddenly flashed through his mind.

_Julia..._

He slowly pulled back, and Roz looked at him again, a feeling of confusion sweeping through her.

"What is it, Frasier?" she asked, but he would not look at her anymore. She reached forward to grab his hand, but he pulled it away.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Roz," he said again.

And without another word, he turned and walked away, out of the office; leaving Roz standing alone in the darkness, wiping away the fresh tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.


End file.
